Monthly Archives: February 2019

24.02.19 — Journal

How To Adult

It’s been a fortnight since my last blog post, and one week since I moved into my new flat, and boy have the two weeks been busy! When I’ve moved flats around Madrid in the past, I’ve only ever had the logistical problems to worry about, which weren’t usually too much of a drama as I could fit all my stuff into one suitcase. This time, however, there’s been much more to sort out.

Some of the nonsense I’ve had to sort out this past week has included ringing the electricity company to change over the contract, contracting and organising the installation of fibre internet, various trips to IKEA to pick up essentials such as a mattress and cutlery, and a lot of toing and froing as I stocked up on supplies from Mercadona. I even managed to get myself empadronado, meaning I have properly registered my address with the local government – which may sound minor, but with the amount of times I have tried and failed, it’s a big accomplishment for me! It really has been a week where I’ve discovered just how to adult.

The sky sometimes puts on a show on my way back from work.

The big task though – the move to my new flat – turned out to be pretty easy in the end. I packed my suitcase in the morning, had an argument with a bus driver who wouldn’t let me on because the case was “too big” (even though the bus was pretty much empty), and eventually grabbed the Metro to my new pad.

As I’d already dusted the place and moved the mattress into position a couple of days in advance, I was able to arrive and unpack at a lovely leisurely pace. In the afternoon I did a big shop to fill my cupboards with some food to get me going, and then nipped back to IKEA to pick up towels, pans, and a few cheeky plants for decoration.

The next morning I was excited to make my daily porridge breakfast using my new pans, and it was when the hob started beeping at me when I realised that I’d been stupid and bought two pans that didn’t work with an induction hob. I made myself a rather picturesque alternative breakfast, but then it was back to IKEA again in order to exchange them. You live and learn!

A lovely breakfast tainted by the thought of having to make yet another IKEA trip.

Once I’d sorted that little issue out and bought myself another plant to make myself feel better, my first week commuting from my new flat begun. We’re pretty busy in the office, and so outside of work hours I’ve been keeping myself social and occupied to keep my mind off all the projects.

One of the more spectacular events of the week was a 360° video mapping installation to celebrate 400 years of Plaza Mayor, the big central square in Madrid. I met up with Bogar to check it out, convening in the plaza at 7:30pm as the streetlights were extinguished and the show began!

The only photo I took really does the event no justice, as it was a stunning immersive journey through the 400-year history projected onto the four façades of the square. Accompanied by a matching soundtrack and some cool spotlight effects which lit up the sky, I included a video made by the local council which should give you a taste of what it was like.

Afterwards, we headed up to the north of the centre to escape from the crowds and have a delicious slap-up tea of subs and pulled pork fries at La Casa Tomada, the restaurant where Bogar works.

Thursday marked the day of my appointment to register my address with the council, and so off I trotted to the very north of the city. I had to make a trip further even than the airport, to an area called Barajas, as it was the only office with a slot which wasn’t months ahead!

As I arrived at the metro station, I thought of Dani, my art director from back when I first started at Erretres three years ago, as he lives in the area. I was considering taking a photo of the sign to send to him as I ascended the escalator, when who should show up waving from the downwards escalator but the man himself!

After a quick sprint back up to ground level, we stopped for a super quick catch up for a couple of minutes. It was lovely to find out what he’s been up to, but we had to cut it rather short as I had an appointment to make and he couldn’t be late for work. I stopped for a quick coffee and some breakfast, and then meandered the streets of the rather quaint neighbourhood as I headed to the oficina de atención al ciudadano – the office I had to go to in order to file the paperwork.

Barajas
Príncipe Pío

After successfully sorting the papers there, I headed back to the office and got straight back to the plenty of design work that needs doing. A nice break did come, however, in the form of a studio visit by a local college. Me and Luis spent an hour with the students presenting our projects, recounting what it’s like to work in a design studio, and answering a plethora of questions that they had. It was as useful for me as it was for them, though, as it was yet more exposure to presenting in Spanish – something I’m slowly doing more and more of. I think my A2 Spanish teacher would be proud!

With that I bring us to the end of the working week and up to this weekend. Yesterday I found myself making another trip to IKEA to grab a few more things and choose the sofa bed I am going to buy just as soon as I get paid. It can’t come soon enough, too, because my friend Em has just booked to visit in less than one month! I had better get this place looking more like a home!

I shan’t share any more photos of my flat until I’ve got the sofa in and everything nicely decorated, for I’ve a vision of how it’ll look in my head and I don’t want to spoil the surprise! That said, this week looks to be very busy in the office, and so I won’t be back with updates until next weekend at the earliest. Until then, ¡chau!

10.02.19 — Journal

Round Three at R3

If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll all know by now that I am back in Madrid! This evening actually marks a week since my arrival, and so much has gone down since then that I still haven’t quite processed it myself whilst I sit here trying to figure out how to pop it into a blog post. I’ll just start and see where we end up…

Arriving to the city is a routine that I now perform from muscle memory, and so before long I found myself arriving at the door to the Airbnb flat that I’d booked for the first fortnight. After chatting to the couple I’m living with for a while, I unpacked the basics and then headed off to do something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while: a Mercadona trip!

Mercadona is the chain of low-cost supermarkets which I have always been rather fond of, but I restrained myself to picking up the basics on this first visit. Sunday was then spent doing quite a lot of nothing, but I had the pleasure of being reunited with my friend Napo as we headed out for a reunion tea of pizza and some drinks. After this, I turned myself in for another early night in preparation for my third first day at Erretres! Cue flashbacks to posts from both 2016 and 2017. I should also explain the name Erretres is Spanish for R3 – which I have decided must mean Round 3!

Cycling the streets of the city as the sun rises feels like a dream.

A street in the old centre of Madrid.

Before I knew what was going on I found myself being woken by my alarm for my first day back in the office. As I’d grabbed a rather central flat, I’d decided that the prettiest and most efficient way to get to the office would be on one of the city’s rental bikes, and so off I headed in –4°c.

A fading facade reads "Bodega" in old handwritten letters.

After somehow evading hypothermia in my poor bare fingers I arrived at the office, and it felt absolutely lovely to be back! As everyone arrived, I made sure to remember the protocol of hugs and kisses on the cheek, but I was soon thrown head-first into the chaos of projects and work to be done!

I trust by this point that I don’t have to repeat the age-old “I can’t share any of what I’m doing because of confidentiality clauses” spiel once more, but you get the idea. All isn’t lost, though, because I’ve also been up to a lot outside of my working hours.

This has, for the most part, involved wandering from one area of the city to another in between completing several rather uninspiring admin-related errands. Not all was lost, though, as I’m a sucker for a good photo when a composition presents itself, so I’ve peppered this post with such photos of the city’s ambience.

One night I did had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend, Leo, who I hadn’t seen for an age. During the evening I managed to get myself so tipsy on Venezuelan beer that I missed my Metro stop when returning home, but it was worth it for the good food and great company!

Another morning was also a lovely chance for a slight change of scenery, as me and Manu headed off to visit the new offices of one of our new clients. It was a pretty cool space, and as Manu had brought along his camera, I thought I’d take a few photos of him doing his thing for social media.

Shameless plug: go and give Erretres a like on Facebook if you can.

There has, however, been a big task looming over the otherwise fun this week: the need to find myself a place to live. I had decided that I finally wanted my own flat, and that I didn’t want to be too far from work, but I had been warned that it can take months to find something worth taking in the competitive market that is the Madrid housing game.

I went along to my first flat viewing on Thursday, a reasonably priced studio apartment in a quiet neighbourhood just slightly further away from the centre than the Erretres office. Upon arrival I found myself in a queue to view the place, and when it was finally my turn to have a look around, I found myself very underwhelmed.

That evening I felt rather deflated about the task ahead, and that was when my friend Bogar stepped in with a contact. He’d been looking for a flat too, and had already found one when an agency let him know that another one he’d looked at had been lowered in price. Needless to say, then, that I immediately got in touch and arranged to view the place on Friday after work.

Well, this second flat was completely different to the first! Newly refurbished, it had obviously been updated by somebody with a keen eye for design, and within five minutes of poking around the place I knew I had to have it. I told my guide from the agency as much, and before I knew it I was sat with the two owners (one of whom was a designer, I knew it!) and signing to move into the place in just a week’s time! How crazy is that?

Anyway, I’ll reign in my excitement and return to the present day. After signing my contract this morning, I headed over to Bogar’s flat to help him move his things a few streets down the road and into his new flat. After a few taxi runs with boxes full of his worldly belongings, I waited for him to bring in his last bit of washing, and then we headed over to eat noodles on the floor of his new place.

I seem to have run into an old lady hanging her washing out.

He’s living near where my new flat will be, so I took the chance to wander through what will soon be my new neighbourhood. Oh, and I also stopped for a few more things from the local Mercadona on my way back home. Start as I mean to go on, I guess!

That’s all for the past week, but my gosh has it been a busy one! I’m sure that things will keep picking up pace as I enter my second week, which will be ending with my move into my new place. I’ll be sure to put together a post with a few photos just as soon as I’ve moved in and bought a few plants to liven the place up a touch!

02.02.19 — Journal

Leaving England

I begin writing this blog post from a quiet corner of Manchester Airport Terminal 3, where I’m rather content to have found a bench on which to set up my iPad. As zen as my little spot may be, it can only mean one thing: it’s time for me to move countries once more.

It’s quite lucky that I managed to make it here when looking at what the weather has been up to over the past few days, as my hometown has been getting progressively snowier as the week has gone on. The problem has been that the snow has been thick enough to cause disruption, but not quite dense enough to enjoy sledging and snow angels and other such frivolities.

My back garden is lightly sprinkled with snow.

Naturally I’ve been taking the opportunity to say goodbye to friends and family since I revealed my return to Spain, and I kicked things off with a lovely afternoon cake and coffee with Jess and Amber at a local pub. We had a lovely chinwag as we critiqued each item on our dessert sharing platter, and we all agreed that the BBC should really give us our own TV show where we discuss desserts. Watch out Mary Berry…

A selfie of me, Jess and Amber.

After we’d said our goodbyes, I was picked up by my dad and whisked off to see my grandparents in Bradford. We sat with them for a good while, chatting about my upcoming adventure and catching up over some delicious shortbread, but I we were soon on the move again.

As I was hobbling due to a minor operation on my toe, my family graciously made the quick trip over to Horsforth and dropped me off at my friends place. Here I spent the evening with Em & Lincoln before heading off to bed after a few ciders and an intense game of Catan.

An orange and blue sunrise behind a hill, with houses in the foreground.

The morning after hailed the arrival of Monday, so I left as the two of them headed off to work, checking myself into a greasy spoon for a sausage and bacon butty to start the day properly. After breakfast I caught a train into the centre of Leeds, settling in a coffee shop to relax until lunchtime.

I met Danni for lunch, which was a quick McDonalds in the train station due to the amount of time it’d have taken me to walk to her workplace. We had a good laugh over a burger, and then bade each other goodbye until Wednesday evening – but more on that in a mo.

After then spending another few hours in the coffee shop, I hobbled painfully slowly up to Belgrave, where I’d arranged to meet all of my uni friends who were still around in Leeds.

Once people began rolling in from work, we all grabbed ourselves a cheeky pint and a few slices of pizza, and reminisced about university life and how far we’d all come since then. All too soon, however, it was bedtime for everyone and time for me to catch the late train back to Burnley.

We all reminisced about university life and how far we’d come since then.

With my dodgy foot keeping me pretty stationary, the week was spent quietly preparing my move at home. On Wednesday evening, me, Danni, and Abi met up at a pub in Burnley for my last set of goodbyes, before winding up in McDonalds for a McFlurry. I did take a selfie at one point which, although it seemed passable in the dim light of the pub, almost gave me a fright when I looked at it on my iPad just now…

Thursday signalled the start of the serious preparations for moving to Spain, as I began to collect all the clothes, electricals, and books which I’ll need to survive out there. I had a treat lined up too, however, as my mum had managed to get us a table at a lovely little tea rooms just outside of Burnley.

A Victorian style British home interior.

I’d never been to Number 62 before, but all I’d heard about it were rave reviews from my friends and family – especially from my mum. I’ll admit now that it certainly lived up to the hype, as I was treated to what seemed like an endless stream of delicious food, all accompanied by a lovely big pot of strawberry and kiwi tea.

An afternoon tea topped with a lit sparkler.
Tomato soup in a floral cup, topped with croutons, cheese and chorizo.
A selection of mini desserts.

Some personal highlights include a creamy tomato and mascarpone soup, homemade coleslaw, a chicken and chorizo sandwich, a warm scone, and a meringue filled with caramel, cream, and chocolate.

After devouring as much as I could, and boxing what remained up to have later at home, Thursday soon turned into Friday – my last full day in the UK. I can’t say that it was all too exciting, as I spent the day hurriedly packing my suitcase and obsessively weighing the thing – I didn’t want a repeat of last year’s baggage fine when I left Madrid!

Me, stood outside of my shed. There is snow on the ground.

I couldn’t leave without a photo with my shed.

As I sat with my neighbour in the afternoon to bid her farewell, I managed to completely miss a gorgeous purple sunset – but fear not, for my keen-eyed sister Ellie did me proud and snapped a few pics from my window. All credit to her, then, for the shot below!

A sunset of bright purple and orange colours.

As the evening came around, I finally finished my packing, and we settled down to my favourite meal for a sendoff tea – mum’s delicious stewed beef and onions with mushy peas and mash. We’d then to see her off to work for the night, and I headed off to bed after a couple of episodes of Nailed It on Netflix.

This brings us to the here and now, as I sit watching planes take off and land right outside the window. I’ve a timer set for the moment they’ll be announcing my gate, and I’ve picked up a bottle of water to see me through the flight – this flying lark is second nature to me by now!

Of course I’ve now got a crazy few days ahead of me, as I check in to my Airbnb this evening and spend tomorrow prepping to start work back at Erretres on Monday – it’s all going to happen so fast! As ever, I’ll be back with updates once things have settled down somewhat, and I look forward to sharing some updates from the slightly warmer streets of Madrid!